After a car accident that nearly took the life of his 6-month-old son and himself, Tomball resident Jon Huber took up running, eventually taking on several half marathons and now looking to someday run full marathons.

Huber’s son, Kade, now 11, was only 6 months old when he was thrown from his father’s arms after a speeding flatbed tow truck hit Huber, pinning him underneath the vehicle and dragging him for several feet.

The family was trying to make it to church on a rainy Sunday in October 1998 when Jon, driving with his son, hydroplaned on the wet freeway and went into a guardrail on I-45.

With his wife, Stephanie, following in a car behind him, Jon told her to go ahead without him so he could take care of the accident. With traffic stopped in two lanes, Jon went to transfer Kade to his wife’s car when he was hit.

Photo by Holly Dutton

Stephanie, who narrowly escaped being hit herself, remembers the accident the best.

“I turned and I felt it. I could feel the air whiz by my leg. I was inches from them and nothing happened to me,” she said.

Stephanie, who works as a physical therapist assistant, was in disbelief when the accident happened.

“I couldn’t remember any training,” she said. “It’s different when it’s your family.”

Miraculously, Jon and Kade survived without any serious long-term effects. While Jon sustained a broken ankle and shattered wrist, his most serious injury was three broken vertebrae in his back, which 10 years later renders him unable to do any heavy lifting.

Kade suffered a broken arm, bruised liver and a head laceration, which left a scar still visible today on his forehead.

“We count our blessings every day,” Stephanie said. “We know there was a purpose for them. God had plans for them. It was not their time to go.”

After the accident, Stephanie said it took Jon “a good two years” for him to get back into normal activities, some of which, like yard work, can still cause him problems.

“The accident definitely changed his life. It changed him,” she said. “He does things he wouldn’t do before. There’s not much he won’t try to do.”

Recovering from the accident proved difficult with a 6-month-old baby and Jon barely able to move around.

“He couldn’t even sit up and get out of bed without a back brace and couldn’t shower by himself,” said Stephanie, who was still nursing Kade at the time.

The Huber’s credit their friends, family and church for helping them through Jon and Kade’s recovery.

“Our friends were amazing, they brought food and Jon’s parents helped when they could,” said Stephanie.

Around the time his daughter, Madison, was born in 2000, Jon began running 5k’s, determined to stay active and not let the accident hinder him.

“I was never much of a runner before then, but it (the accident) made me think about how blessed I was to have the opportunity to be able to walk or run. It’s in tribute to my faith in my son,” he said.

During the week, he makes time to go on runs at the park while Kade’s soccer team practices in the fields nearby.

In the future, he hopes to begin running full marathons.

He’s scheduled to run the 13.3-mile Aramco Houston Half-Marathon, part of the annual Chevron Houston Marathon on Jan.17.

His family will be there to watch him run across the finish line.

“I run because I can,” he said. “And that opportunity was very close to being taken away from me. I don’t run fast, but I run.”

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